sports The Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta boys had their best shooting night of the season and cruised to a 65-45 win over the BOLD Warriors Thursday at home. The Tigers shot a blistering 75 percent in the first half and built a 36-17 lead by the break and finished the night shooting a season best 58 percent.
"Austin...
Morris, 56267

Morris Minnesota 607 Pacific Avenue 56267

2013-01-28 16:27:31

The Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta boys had their best shooting night of the season and cruised to a 65-45 win over the BOLD Warriors Thursday at home. The Tigers shot a blistering 75 percent in the first half and built a 36-17 lead by the break and finished the night shooting a season best 58 percent.

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"Austin Dierks, in particular, had a great shooting night as he scored 20 of his season-high 28 points in the first half to lead the Tigers," said coach Torgerson. "The 6'5" post was 13-for-15 from the floor including an exclamation point dunk in the final minutes of the game.

"Ten other Tigers joined him in the scoring column to make it a easy win in front of a large home town crowd to start the 2013 part of the schedule.

"The Tigers set the tone early as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back," added Torgerson. "Fast breaks and great passing plays made for an entertaining first half as the Tigers seemed to get the bad taste out of their system following their sub-par performance against Rockford in the finals of their holiday tournament in St. James. Besides a number of in-the-paint baskets by the Tigers, guard Logan Manska hit a pair of early threes to further help the Tiger cause.

"Defensively, the Tigers were able to shut down the perimeter game of the Warriors and that made the task much easier in the transition game.

"By halftime, the Tiger offense was clicking and they went to the locker room with a 19-point advantage.

"The second half was more of the same, although BOLD switched to a zone defense and that slowed the game down. The Tigers, to their credit, ran a patient offense and built their lead as big as 26 points late in the game.

"John Tiernan came off the bench to score six points inside to help spark the Tigers down the stretch.

"Chandler Erickson and Jacob Torgerson each nailed a three pointer to help the Tigers against the BOLD zone.

"The night finished with reserves Dillon McNally and Beau Keimig each connecting on an inside basket that got the home crowd on its feet in celebration of a nice win."

Dierks was the only Tiger in double figures with 28 points and Manska was next in line with eight points.

In the assist category, the Tigers dished out 23 for the game. Torgerson and Manska had a team high four assists while Erickson, Henrichs and Berget each chipped in three assists.

The Tigers had a 28-22 rebounding edge with Dierks gaining a team-high seven boards.

BOLD was led in scoring by guard Tyler Rock, who finished with 14 points.

The Tigers now go on the road to Paynesville for a conference clash on Tuesday, Jan. 8.